


Stay

by Kittenxgirlx02 (Cali8697)



Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 00:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9148240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cali8697/pseuds/Kittenxgirlx02
Summary: Philip takes care of Lukas when he's sick. Set a couple months after the show's conclusion





	

 

“Hey Lukas, let me in,” Philip called, banging his fist on the screen door. He reread Lukas’s texts from earlier that afternoon – _My dad’s out of town this weekend. Come over? –_ to make sure he wasn’t confused and Lukas wasn’t actually at a race or something. Philip wondered if he should call.

Just as Philip decided to go check the barn, Lukas came thumping down the stairs and opened the door. “Hey, sorry. I fell asleep. Glad you made it.”

“Yeah I convinced Helen and Gabe that I was sleeping over at a friend’s house. Like, I think they probably know where I am, because I don’t have a ton of friends, but we’ve all been getting along really well lately, so they’re turning a blind eye.”

Lukas nodded with considerably less enthusiasm than Philip would expect. “Great.”

“You feeling okay?” Philip asked, noting Lukas’ greyish complexion. “Like, why were you asleep? It’s six thirty.”

“Yeah I think I might be getting sick,” Lukas admitted. “I felt fine when I texted you and then it just hit me, I guess. Like, I’m fine, though. It’s really not a big deal.”

Philip furrowed his brows. “You sure? You look… not great. I could definitely go home so you could get some sleep.”

“I’m fine,” Lukas repeated, his expression defensive. “Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so,” Philip said doubtfully. “I know you mentioned wanting to get new footage for your channel, but you don’t really seem up to it, so how about we just chill instead. We can watch a movie, okay? Play it by ear.”

“Uh, yeah. Sounds pretty good. Whatever you want to do,” Lukas said gratefully. “Do you like _Top Gun_?”

Philip smirked. “Sure. Whatever you want to watch.”

* * *

 

“You know, looking back, I realize I was definitely with in love with Maverick in middle school,” Lukas commented. “I must have watched this movie a hundred times.”

“I mean I can’t really blame you,” Philip said. “He just seems so cool. Everything a thirteen-year-old boy wants to be.”

“And date,” Lukas added. “Between this and my infatuation with the male cast of _Fast and Furious_ , it’s a shock my homosexual awakening wasn’t sooner. Middle school me was so repressed.”

“Oh if only the repression ended in middle school,” Philip teased. “Would’ve saved me a lot of trouble.”

“Oh shut up,” Lukas replied. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably and pulled his flannel around him like he was cold.

“At least you came around, right?”

“Uh huh.” Lukas closed his eyes and leaned against the arm of the couch.

“You okay?” Philip asked after a moment.

“Jesus, yes!” Lukas snapped. “Stop asking.”

Philip moved to where Lukas was sitting on the end of the couch and gently put an arm around him. “Hey.”

Lukas immediately softened. He begrudgingly leaned his head into Philip’s shoulder. “Hey.”

“Despite what you might believe, I don’t view illness as a personal failure,” Philip said, running his thumb along Lukas’ arm comfortingly. “I probably won’t break up with you if you admit you have a cold.”

Lukas sighed deeply. “I might, possibly, be a little bit sick.”

“I know.”

* * *

 

Lukas was completely unconscious with his head in Philip’s lap before the movie was even half over. When it ended, Philip flipped the channel to some decorating show about miniature houses to pass the time while idly running a hand through Lukas’ hair as he slept.

As the third rich, white hipster couple agonized over the task of fitting a wine fridge in their tiny house, Lukas suddenly sat up and took off his flannel.

“Hey, do you feel ok?”

Lukas put his head in his hands, breathing heavily. “No.”

“Why what’s the matter?” Philip asked, rubbing Lukas’ back.

Without a word, Lukas stood up and walked to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.  After a moment, Philip could hear him throwing up.

Philip filled a glass with tap water from the kitchen sink and knocked softly on the bathroom door. “Lukas? Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” Lukas replied through the door.

Lukas was slumped on the bathroom floor, looking pale and sweaty. Philip sat down next to him. “Didn’t say it was your stomach.”

Lukas didn’t reply.

Philip handed him the glass. “Drink this.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you feel any better, now?”

“I guess a little bit.” Lukas took a very small sip of water. “You should probably go home.”

Philip frowned. “What? Why?”

“In case you couldn’t tell, I probably won’t be much fun to hang out with,” Lukas grumbled. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”

“I don’t mind,” Philip said quickly. “And your Dad won’t be home until tomorrow night. You probably shouldn’t be alone. What if you, like, fall down the stairs?”

Lukas gave him a weird look. “Dude, it’s a stomach bug, not the plague. I’m fine.”

Philip frowned and pressed his lips to Lukas’ forehead.

“What was that for?” Lukas asked, perplexed.

“I was seeing if you have a fever,” Philip explained. “And my god, are you burning up. Do you have a thermometer?”

Lukas studied Philip intently. “I think the last person who kissed my forehead was my mom.”

“No, it was me,” Philip said. “When you were in a coma.”

“Doesn’t count. I was unconscious.”

Philip wrapped an arm around Lukas and rested his chin on Lukas’ shoulder. “Remind me to do it more often, then.”

After a moment letting Philip hold him, Lukas sighed and sat up. “I think there’s a thermometer in the kitchen cabinet by the sink.”

“Thanks.” Philip stood up. “Do you want some tea?”

Lukas grimaced nauseously. “Not really.”

“I’m going to make you some tea.”

Philip set a kettle on the stove to boil and looked around the cabinet for the thermometer, which he eventually located underneath a stack of old mail. It looked kind of old and dusty, so Philip figured he would wash it before he tried to stick it in Lukas’ mouth. No point in exposing him to even more germs in his already compromised state.

“Here,” Philip said, handing the thermometer to Lukas and leaning against the sink.

Lukas slipped it under his tongue, waited for about thirty seconds and handed it back to Philip. Before Philip even read it, he knew the number would be high. Lukas was shivering and sweating simultaneously and with his glassy eyes and flushed cheeks, Lukas just _looked_ feverish.

“102,” Philip announced. “Yeah no way in hell am I leaving you home alone. You’re basically dying.”

Lukas closed his eyes. “I’d believe that.”

“Do you want to go to bed?” Philip asked. “You look exhausted.”

Lukas nodded and Philip helped him up. “You go up; I’ll be there in a bit with your tea.”

“I don’t even want tea,” Lukas mumbled as he climbed the stairs.

The Waldenbeck’s didn’t have ginger tea, so Philip decided peppermint would have to do. That was supposed to make people feel less sick, right? He dropped the tea bag into a mug of hot water and went upstairs to deliver it to Lukas, who has huddled under a blanket, looking small and pathetic.

“Have some tea,” Philip said, kicking off his shoes and climbing into bed next to Lukas. He pulled the comforter around himself and settled back against the pillows, one arm tossed over his boyfriend. “You’ll feel better if you drink some.”

“I don’t believe you,” Lukas protested, though he accepted the tea anyways. He blew on it gently and drank very, very slowly.

“You’re shivering,” Philip noted. He pulled Lukas closer to him. “Are you cold?”

Lukas resisted weakly. “Stop, I don’t want you to get sick.”

Philip waved his hand dismissively. “I probably won’t. I was sick constantly as a kid so now I’m pretty much immune to every illness known to man.”

“You used to get sick a lot?” Lukas asked. He handed Philip the mug and shifted his body in closer, allowing himself to rest his head against Philip’s chest.

Philip set the mug down on the nightstand. “Oh yeah all the time. I’ve had chicken pox, strep, measles, flu, croup; you name it.”

Lukas’ eyebrows scrunched together. “Why?”

Philip shrugged. “I mean, I mostly spent my childhood living in run-down apartments with a bunch of drug addicts and only went to the doctor once every few years, so I guess it wasn’t the most conducive lifestyle to healthy living.”

“Sometimes I forget,” Lukas said after a moment. “You’re so normal, you know? It’s easy to forget you grew up… like that. With your mom and stuff.”

Philip always had to be careful as to what he could reveal about his childhood in casual conversation. He’d had a few too many conversations with Gabe and Helen that had ended in a serious talk about how, no, it really _isn’t_ okay that his mom’s boyfriend used to lock him in the closet, and Philip had suffered way too many awkward silences while talking to people at school after mentioning that he and his mom were homeless for a while. One day, Philip planned on having a real conversation with Lukas about what it was like for him growing up, but thinking about his mom still made him want to cry, so instead of responding Philip pulled Lukas a little tighter into his chest. Lukas’ hair smelled like sweat and a vaguely tropical shampoo. Pineapple, maybe. Or mango. “You should try to get some sleep. It’s almost ten.”

“Wow I’ve never stayed up past ten before,” Lukas joked, but his eyes were already closed.

* * *

 

Philip woke to the sound of whimpering. He turned to his side to see Lukas still sleeping but drenched in sweat and shaking badly. His breathing was ragged and even in the dark Philip could see his face was ashen. Philip shook Lukas’ arm gently. “Hey. Hey, wake up.”

Lukas’ eyes fluttered open and he sat up in bed. Philip put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Lukas shook his head. Suddenly, he bolted to the bathroom and fell to his knees in front of the toilet to be sick. Philip knelt next to him and rubbed between Lukas’ shoulder blades while he retched. “Alright. It’s ok. You’re ok. Breathe.”

After a moment, Lukas sat back on his heels and panted. Philip filled a cup with water and handed it to him, but Lukas refused it, pushing it away with the back of his hand.

Philip pushed the hair out of Lukas’ eyes. “Do you want to go back to bed?”

In response, Lukas lurched forward and vomited again. Philip laid one hand on his back and another on his shoulder to steady him. When Lukas finished, Philip tried giving him the water again. “Come on. At least rinse out your mouth.”

Lukas obliged and spit twice into the bowl before reaching up to flush. He sat back against the wall and shut his eyes. “So, um, I think I’m going to stay here for a while.”

“Like in the bathroom?” Philip asked.

“Yep,” Lukas rasped firmly, wrapping both arms around his stomach and slumping down the wall. “That sounds about right.”

Philip noted how pathetic Lukas looked lying on the floor. “Could I at least get you a pillow and blanket?”

Lukas nodded.

Taking a look at the way Lukas was shaking, Philip decided he should probably take Lukas’ temperature again because he seemed way worse than before. He grabbed an armful of blankets and the thermometer and headed back to the bathroom.

Lukas had moved from a somewhat upright position into a sad ball on the ground. Philip draped a quilt over him and put a hand on Lukas’ forehead. Lukas leaned in to the cool touch but didn’t open his eyes.

“Open your mouth, I’m taking your temperature again,” Philip said, sticking the thermometer under Lukas’s tongue. “I’m worried it’s gone up.”

“Jesus Christ,” Philip said, squinting at the number. “104.5. Fuck.”

“That bad?” Lukas mumbled.

“I think it’s technically bad enough to take you to a hospital,” Philip explained.

“No,” Lukas whined. “I’m not going to a fucking hospital. Don’t be stupid.”

Philip sighed. “If your fever keeps going up, I’m calling your dad and you’re seeing a doctor. Get those blankets off of you; I’m taking them back… You can keep the pillow, though.”

Lukas reluctantly allowed Philip to pull the comforter off of him and lay a wet washcloth on his forehead. He curled up into Philip’s side.

Philip smirked and put an arm over him. “Pretty clingy, aren’t you?”

“Shut up; I don’t feel good,” Lukas protested.

“So are you glad I didn’t go home when you told me to, then?” Philip asked, raising his eyebrow.

“You’re really good at this taking care of people stuff,” Lukas answered.

The truth was, Philip was good at taking care of Lukas because the stomach flu had a lot of the same symptoms as a drug overdose, which he’d dealt with on numerous occasions. He decided he’d already regaled Lukas with enough fun facts about his childhood for one night.

“How are you feeling?” Philip asked.

“Uh, nauseous,” Lukas replied weakly. “And cold. And my stomach hurts like a bitch. My throat and my head don’t feel great either.”

“Jesus you’re falling apart.” Philip adjusted the damp cloth on Lukas’ forehead. “Would you feel better if you laid down flat?”

“I think if I move right now I’ll puke,” Lukas said in a soft voice, not opening his eyes.

“Alright, no moving then,” Philip said. He brushed the hair that was stuck to Lukas’ damp forehead out of his eyes. “We can stay right here for as long as you need.”

“Thanks,” Lukas murmured. He sounded half-asleep.

* * *

 

After about twenty minutes, Philip traced his finger down Lukas’ arm and sighed. “Hey, uh, is there any chance I could get you to take some Advil? I hate doing it to you, but you’ve got one hell of a fever and I really think some kind of medicine is necessary so you don’t have, like, a seizure or something.”

“No. I can’t,” Lukas said in the most pitiful voice Philip had ever heard.

“I’m really sorry.” Philip untangled himself from Lukas’ body and propped him up against the side of the bathtub before leaving in search of medicine. He located a bottle of generic ibuprofen and grabbed a blue Gatorade – which he knew was Lukas’ favorite – from the outside fridge. The time on Philip’s phone read three forty-seven. He hoped Helen and Gabe would understand when he was less than perky when he got home in the morning. He’d probably have to tell them he was over at Lukas’ for the night, although he suspected they knew exactly where he was. It’s not like they were doing anything inappropriate, anyways. They definitely could have been, but the evening had not gone they way Philip had expected. Oh well.

“I’m back,” Philip said softly, sitting down next to Lukas and putting and arm around him. “I brought Advil and Gatorade.”

Lukas grimaced and made a sound between a whimper and a groan. “I’ll just puke it up.”

“You’ve had about three ounces of liquid in the past nine hours and your fever is ridiculous,” Philip reasoned. “I promise this is because I love you.”

Lukas took the bottle and the pills from Philip. “Fuck you.”

“That’s the spirit,” Philip said as Lukas swallowed both pills and a tiny bit of Gatorade.

Lukas gagged slightly but kept everything down. He leaned back against the bath. “Am I done now?”

Philip pushed the bottle back into his hands. “Try just a little more for me. Just drink, like, a quarter of it. No rush.”

“I’m fucking freezing,” Lukas managed in between very small sips of Gatorade. “And dizzy.”

Philip rubbed his back comfortingly. “I know. I’ll take your temperature again in a few minutes, and if it’s under… lets say 102.5, I’ll give you your blanket back, alright?”

Lukas nodded solemnly and lifted the bottle to his mouth one final time before handing it back to Philip. “That’s enough.”

It wasn’t quite a quarter, but Lukas had gone so gray that Philip was inclined to agree that he’d had enough for now. Philip stuck the thermometer in Lukas’ mouth for the third time that night.

“102.3.” Philip breathed a sigh of relief. “I guess you get a blanket.”

Lukas had slumped back onto the floor, shivering. “Hooray.”

Philip set the blanket over Lukas and pulled his boyfriend’s head into his lap. “Do you at least feel slightly less shitty.”

Slowly, Lukas tucked the quilt around himself and shut his eyes. “I guess.”

“Do you think you’re gonna throw up again?” Philip asked, running his fingers through Lukas’ hair.

“Yeah,” Lukas replied in a muffled voice. “Probably not for like fifteen minutes though. Thirty if we’re being optimistic.”

“I’m sorry you’re so sick,” Philip said.  

“S’okay,” Lukas mumbled. “Sorry you have to take care of me and shit.”

“Ah don’t worry about it. I don’t mind.” Well he minded a _little_ , but it’s not like it was Lukas’ fault. “This sucks a lot worse for you, anyways.”

“Yeah,” Lukas agreed. “Thanks though. For staying.”

“Of course,” Philip said. “I’ll always stay.”


End file.
